Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG)

The enactment of the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 (HERA) created the Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant Program (ACG) effective with the 2006-07 Award Year. The ACG program operated during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 Award Years according to U. S. Department of Education regulations published on July 3, 2006, and November 1, 2006.

Effective with the Fall 2008 Semester, the ACG program will be governed by regulations published October 29. 2007.   Effective the Spring Semester 2009 the ACG was to be governed by statutory changes made to the program by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (ECASLA), and yet to be published regulations.  Now, as a result of the enactment of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), the October 29, 2007 regulations once again apply to the entire 2008-09 Award Year.

Due to the very significant program changes effective Fall 2008 and the additional changes to the program's student eligibility criteria which were to be effective with the Spring 2009 Semester, we were unable to include the ACG in our automated awarding process for the 2008-09 Award Year.  Our goal is to begin identifying and manually awarding the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 ACG to eligible students by late September 2008.  The following information outlines the ACG student eligibility criteria now applicable to the 2008-09 Award Year. 

Students who have earned fewer than 30 semester hours and have completed the requisite number of weeks of instructional time as defined in the federal regulations are considerred to be in their first year of undergraduate study and may receive up to the maximum $750 Federal ACG Scheduled Award (ACG-1)

Students who have earned a minimum of 30 hours, but fewer than 59 semester hours and have completed the requisite number of weeks of instructional time as defined in the federal regulations are considered to be in their second year of undergraduate study and may receive up to the maximum $1300 Federal ACG Scheduled Award (ACG-2). Once students have earned 60 semester credit hours and have completed 60 weeks or more of instructional time they are no longer eligible for ACG consideration.

To be eligible, a student:

1. Must be a U.S. Citizen (students classified as Permanent Residents or any other non-citizen status are not eligible);
2. Must receive a Federal Pell Grant during the award year;
3. Must be enrolled full-time in an undergraduate degree program;
4. Must be enrolled in the first or second academic year of his or her program of study;
5. Must have completed a rigorous secondary school program of study after January 1, 2006, if a first-year student (ACG-1), and after January 1, 2005 if a second-year student (ACG-2). Rigor is determined by UGA Undergraduate Admissions based on U.S. Department of Education regulations;
6. If a first-year student (ACG-1), must not have been previously enrolled in an undergraduate program as a regular student;
7. If a second-year student (ACG-2), must have a minimum cumulative 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale at the end of the term in which the 30th semester hour of post-secondary credit was earned and completed a minimum of 30 weeks of instructional time as defined in the federal regulations;
8. The total awarded financial aid cannot exceed the student's Cost of Attendance (COA) minus the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).

Once a student has received the current maximum $750 Federal Scheduled Award (ACG-1) as a first-year student, he or she is no longer eligible for the ACG as a first-year student.

Once a student has received the current maximum $1300 Federal Scheduled Award (ACG-2) as a second-year student, he or she is no longer eligible for the ACG as a second-year student.

Students who have been awarded the Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) should carefully note these very detailed and unique federal statutory and regulatory requirements governing how a student’s academic year progression is determined and the point at which the student must have earned the 3.0 cumulative grade point average for ACG-2.  For these reasons, any additional hours the university accepts for credit and changes to previously earned grades may retroactively affect a student’s eligibility for the grant.